Description

From the Women’s Prize-shortlisted author of First Love

‘The Palm House might be my favourite novel of 2026 so far . . . I wanted to go back to the beginning and start again’ The Sunday Times

‘I love this book’ Sarah Perry

‘Outstandingly brilliant’ Claire-Louise Bennett

Laura Miller and Edmund Putnam have been friends for a long time. Theirs is a happy meeting of minds, with long evenings spent huddled in an ancient pub by the Thames, where they share office gossip, reflect on their teenage passions, and lament the state of the world.

Recently, though, Putnam has been harder to reach: he has lost his father, and the magazine to which he has dedicated his life has been hijacked by an insufferable new editor, Simon ‘call me Shove’ Halfpenny.

Laura has her own problems: with a prickly mother and a tricky past, and in a beautiful and indifferent city, her day-to-day life is precarious. But as Putnam starts to sink into despondency, she must try to bring him back.

A novel of enduring friendships and small mercies, The Palm House offers us Gwendoline Riley’s trademark keen observation and wit, and leaves us – somehow – with a curious sense of possibility.

PRAISE FOR GWENDOLINE RILEY

‘Riley’s prose is so electric, so alive with humour and insight and passion, that by the end you will want to stand up and cheer’ – Paul Murray, author of The Bee Sting

‘Gwendoline Riley is a genius’ – Evening Standard

‘So painful, so funny and acutely observed’ – David Nicholls, author of You Are Here

‘A writer of singular vision’ – The Guardian

Publisher Review

This pristine book confirms Riley’s position among the finest novelists working today. Her sentences are crystalline and perfect, and her attention to the world is always acute and occasionally tender – I love this book, and am awed by Riley’s accomplishment — Sarah Perry, author of Death of an Ordinary Man Outstandingly brilliant — Claire-Louise Bennett, author of Big Kiss, Bye-Bye The Palm House on almost any page will give you more delight than most other novels published this year — John Self, The Critic Gwendoline Riley is one of my favourite contemporary writers and The Palm House is the book of hers I love the most — Sheila Heti, author of Pure Colour Fans of Gwendoline Riley’s blunt observation and razor-sharp prose will be thrilled with her new book, The Palm House — Barry Pierce, Vogue Gwendoline Riley can draw character like nobody else . . . Her prose is so sharp you could cut yourself on it — Elizabeth Macneal author of The Burial Plot Achingly sad and subversively funny . . . I read My Phantoms with great pleasure. It’s a wonderful combination of achingly sad and subversively funny, simultaneously sharp and tender, and always finely observed. The dialogue is pitch perfect. The relationships are agonising. It’s a subtle book, with big themes lightly drawn and precisely rendered, about how to live and how to love — Monica Ali author of Brick Lane What a phenomenal ear she has, and how remorselessly funny she is — Kevin Barry author of Night Boat to Tangier A novelist of uncompromising brilliance — Olivia Laing * The Observer * A writer of singular vision * The Guardian * Gwendoline Riley’s talent for making characters live, and her skill for identifying the essential moment, word or gesture, is immense — Chris Power, author of Mothers One of the most exciting novels in years . . . Riley is as good at turning over our expectations as she is at turning sentences around . . . the final stretch of the book is so good its almost showing off, with comedy and tragedy side by side — John Self Take up the gauntlet with Gwendoline Riley: it’s worth it — Alex Clark * TLS * Riley’s novels get under your skin — Alex Preston * The Observer * Gwendoline Riley is a genius — Claire Allfree * Evening Standard * The Palm House confirms Riley as one of Britain’s best * The Telegraph * A sly dark comedy about a long friendship between two prickly people enduring in the face of the world’s disappointments * The Independent * One of our finest novelists of constrained fury: nobody writes better . . . Riley’s prose is sharp, her dialogue pitch-perfect, her exasperation channelled into devastating comedy * The Observer * Mesmerising * The Telegraph * Painfully good — The Times ‘Books of 2026’ The Palm House might be my favourite novel of 2026 so far . . . It’s very funny and so full of pathos and horror . . . I wanted to go back to the beginning and start again — Johanna Thomas-Corr, The Times